The present invention relates generally to computer software, and more particularly, to server initiated synchronization or communications between a wireless mobile device such as handheld PDAs and a data server.
The synchronization server is the intermediary between wireless clients such as the mobile devices and the Enterprise server used by a company hosting various enterprise content (e.g., email). In general the Enterprise end is equipped with servers having fast processors, enormous storage and will have little to be concerned about the memory and hardware capabilities. The clients on the other hand need to operate on limited processing power and generally have storage and efficiency constraints.
The synchronization server's primary responsibilities include keeping the clients in sync with the Enterprise content. It serves the clients with changes at the Enterprise server end when the client's request a synchronization operation. As such, temporarily warehousing (or storing) data items at a server system and then “synchronizing” the mobile device with the server system is a common setup for using many handheld devices.
Present systems and methods for replicating information from a server system to a user's mobile device are typically “synchronization” systems in which the user's data items are “pulled” from the server system in a batch each time the user desires to retrieve the information. There is another method referred to as “push” method in which the server system initiates the transfer of the data items without having any user-initiated command that causes the mobile device to receive the data items. The information is thus “pushed” onto the mobile device. In general, from the perspective of the server system, the push paradigm is a more automated, continuous, efficient and reliable system while the pull paradigm is a more passive way to provide information to the users.
What is needed is an efficient method for enabling a synchronization server to initiate a synchronization with a wireless device when the primary synchronization data channel does not support a mechanism for such. In the case where such a mechanism does not exist, a synchronization must always be initiated by the client. As such, the mobile client will not be aware nor updated with server-side changes until the client explicitly elects to perform a synchronization.